Good Shepherd Community Church

Based on the life of Christ, C.S. Lewis once claimed that Jesus was either Lord, a Lunatic, or a Liar. One had to be true. As we explore Mark 3, we'll see that we get to decide which of those titles the Lord carries in our lives.

Today I’m chatting with Justin Watson, Communication Pastor at Good Shepherd Community Church. Justin shares how he came to be at Good Shepherd and walks us through some of the daily and weekly activities in the Communication Pastor role.

We look at social media and its role in the Church today and how Good Shepherd has been active in this area, specifically with Facebook. We finish the episode discussing the important and relevant topic of digital evangelism and some of the plans Good Shepherd has for digital outreach.

Today, Sean talks with David Price, Worship and Production Director at Good Shepherd Community Church.

David takes us through the process and planning that goes into the worship services at Good Shepherd. He also shares the decision-making process behind sound, lighting, and effects choices.  We also cover how music is chosen for worship services. Finally, we cover some of the successes David has seen since becoming the head of the worship team at Good Shepherd.

In This Episode

• What it’s like to lead and prepare weekend services at Good Shepherd.
• The difference between singing “at” the congregation vs. “with” them.
• What’s it like to lead a congregation in worship.
• An explanation on sound levels at Good Shepherd.
• How lighting decisions are made.
• How music is chosen for weekend worship services.
• David’s favorite worship song and which songs he feels need a time of rest.
• The secret behind David’s white shoes.

Today we discuss a theology of work and what it means to be actively engaged with our work in a God-honoring way. We also spend time on Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 3. Although work can sometimes be difficult, it is inherently a good thing and we can follow the example of Jesus who worked hard to help others in a variety of circumstances.

In This Episode

• Why Paul emphasized the importance of hard work
• Why work is a good thing and why work is hard
• The importance of secular work in fulfilling God’s plan
• Paul’s admonishment to busybodies
• How to engage with idle people

In the second part of our work life balance series, we focus on a number of key tips that can help you balance life and work.

 In This Episode

• The importance of putting our identity in Christ and not in our work.
• How important small wins are when it comes to our relationships.
• That we need people to hold us accountable about our balance issues. Whether these imbalances are found in life or work.

In today’s episode – part one of two – we discuss work-life balance. We look at what drives us to become imbalanced. The role technology plays in that process and some personal examples of how our lives have been affected by work-life balance issues in the past. Most importantly, Bob discusses where our identity should come from, not from work, but Christ.

In This Episode:

● Some stats on work-life balance in the United States
● The importance of using technology in ways that promote work/life balance.
● Some thoughts from Tim Keller, the former lead pastor of Redeemer Church, on how to ensure our identity doesn’t come from work.
● How to center our identity in Christ.

Today I will be talking with Steve Keels, who is the Discipleship Pastor at Good Shepherd.

We talk about the history of discipleship at Good Shepherd and the importance of knowing God’s word.  We also look at biblical discipleship through the lens of Paul and his life, as we discuss how he discipled the early churches. We close the episode with examples of how discipleship has directly affected Steve’s life.

Takeaways

• We grow by learning, and the goal of discipleships is to foster a thirst for knowledge in God’s word.
• The most important friendship is the one that develops when you are studying the Word.
• Challenging people without cynicism, asking questions and them asking, is how to make them want to learn themselves.
• If you really study it, you can apply anything from the Bible. You just need to spend enough time with it.
• Model your relationships to Paul’s in which we are all related in Christ.
• You’re not a project to someone who is discipling you.

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Bob and Greg.

This time we focus on some of the personal, health, and relationship challenges Greg and Bob have faced.

We also talk about how their faith in God helped them to surmount each of these challenges. 

Today Greg Cahalan joins the show, Greg is the Student Ministry Pastor at Good Shepherd.

In this episode, we share stories of Bob and Greg’s friendship and how they grew together and encouraged each other to pursue their God-given callings.

We also spend time discussing the highs and lows of their friendship over the years and how a focus on Christ has kept their friendship strong and thriving.

On today’s episode, we focus on God’s will – what we mean when we say God’s will and how that looks in our lives. We look at the importance in submitting our own desires and will to God’s plan and discuss what it means to accept God’s will in our lives and the pitfalls we can have when we don’t trust in his plan. Bob finishes the episode by sharing the practical decision-making framework he uses to help align his life to God’s will.

In This Episode

• Why should I want God’s will?
• What if my own will is different than the will of God?
• Why it is important to zoom out from our individual decisions and see the full picture
• Why praying can trump planning
• A practical framework to help us allow God to lead us through our decision making